Tag Archives: Cell Phone

Carphone Warehouse leaked, well, everything about the next Nexus smartphone

As writer Ernest Hamlin Abbott once put it, "rumors are not news; but they sometimes foreshadow news."

And, boy, have the rumors ever been stacking up concerning Google's next Nexus device, even though Google's expected to be saving any official news about it until their October 29 event.

Still, between the speculation that the new Android phone will be LG-made, the pictures, and even a premature review, we've already learned quite a bit about the upcoming Nexus 4.

And today, a new leak from retailer Carphone Warehouse revealed pretty much everything else, right down to the LG phone's specs, price and expected release date.

Advertising pre-orders for the phone, Carphone Warehouse has listed a price of £389.95. And their description boasts that the new smartphone has a 4.7" LCD display, and "the fastest and smoothest version of Android yet," Android OS 4.2 Jelly Bean, as well as some new features:

"Search gets smarter with Google Now. You ask. Google answers, instantly, and with all the detail you want... Stay in touch with Gesture Typing, a faster way of typing that lets you spell words by dragging your finger across the screen from letter to letter."

Meanwhile, Carphone Warehouse sets October 30 as the start date for delivery, just one day after Google's event. Though, after this last and possibly most comprehensive leak, there isn't much Google could tell us about their latest smartphone that we don't already know.

If you've ever wanted to go ghost hunting, SpecTrek lets you chase spectres using your smartphone's GPS. The augmented reality game shows you "ghosts" on a map of your area and gives you a time limit to find and capture them.

It may be kind of silly, but hey, it's probably the most fun you'll ever have using a smartphone GPS.

3. Entity Sensor Pro app for Android

If virtual ghosts don't cut it for you, the Entity Sensor Pro app for Android claims to let you detect "real" ghosts using a supposed EMF sensor in your smartphone to check for "paranormal" readings.

It's essentially like playing Ghost Busters with a mobile device. Whether or not you actually believe in ghosts, the app has a pretty high rating among users.

And even if you think it's useless as a ghost detector, you can always use it with friends as a gullibility detector.

4. Ouija Board app for Android

Like so many classics, the Ouija Board has been revamped for modern mobile devices.

Use your smartphone to try making contact with the spirit world, or simply relive the fun of middle school with this Android app. In any case, it gives new meaning to "the ghost in the machine."

You can add a little eerie appeal to party pics with the Ghost Camera Pro smartphone app for Android.

The app lets you choose from a bunch of different types of ghosts and spirits (not just the cute kind pictured above) and insert them into pictures on your device. You can also edit the size, color and opacity of your ghosts.

We consider this more of a humor app, especially if some of some of your subjects have been going at the punch bowl hard.

In addition to the rumors of an upcoming Galaxy S III Mini event in Germany (which we reported on last week), Samsung has confirmed an October 24 event in New York City as the first US stop on the Galaxy Note II's World Tour.

This Samsung "Save the Date" teased with a pic of a stylus but no mention of the Galaxy Note II

Late last month, Samsung was already teasing the affair, with a "Save the Date" card showing a stylus pen and the tagline "The Next Big Thing Is Here." However, the next generation Galaxy Note "phablet" was never shown. But the official invitations, which started rolling out yesterday, do show and name the device, removing all previous doubts.

The official press invite confirms the Galaxy Note II as the focus of the October 24 event in New York

Still, this is likely to be the beginning rather than the end of all speculation about the new combination phone and tablet. It doesn't mark the release of the new Galaxy Note II, and it won't be the first time the device has been seen.

So what can we expect to learn about the latest smartphone in Samsung's Galaxy lineup?

Well, for one, we may finally get some sort of confirmation on the Galaxy Note II's American release date. And hopefully, Samsung will be giving us some notion of its price, too.

Leaked pictures of what appears to be an LG-made future Nexus device surfaced this week

They usually stand for "life's good," but this week, LG's trademark letters stood for something else entirely – "leaks guaranteed."

If you're building a new smartphone, as LG appears to be, you can pretty much assume someone's going to get a picture of it, and that before too long, the whole of the internet is going to see it.

All that glitters is not yet to be sold: the sparkly backing of the new LG E960

The leak in question this time is what appears to be an LG-made Nexus device. Judging by the leaked photos, which appeared in the XDA-Developers forum, Engaget says the LG E960 "appears to be a variant of the Optimus G – until you realize that it's using software navigation keys, doesn't quite resemble the international or AT&T Optimus G models and is oddly badged as the 'Full JellyBean on Mako.'"

The device also bears some resemblance to Samsung's Galaxy Nexus, though the E960's corners seem more rounded than those of of the LG Optimus G, and it's backing is flatter, with a sleeker design than that of the Galaxy Nexus.

Meanwhile, says Mobile Syrup, the fact that the E960 has recently passed through FCC certification "showing off PCS and AWS bands for HSPA+ and AWS bands for LTE," hints that the new smartphone is likely to be available on a number of networks, potentially making it "one of the most multi-faceted unlocked phones on the market."

Based on the assumption that LG is in fact producing the next Nexus device – which it probably is – there's talk that the LG E960 may be ready by early November.

This week, Verizon customers fell victim to an iPhone 5 bug that sucked data like a vampire

Just in time for Halloween, Verizon has unleashed a horrible and terrifying monster: it's the fabled iPhone 5 data vampire, and for Verizon subscribers lucky (or unlucky?) enough to have Apple's latest smartphone, it's causing huge overages.

"I have had an iPhone on AT&T since launch. I never went over a gig in any month," wrote one such user in the Mac Rumors forum. "I have used half a gig [on the iPhone 5] in 2 days with Verizon! Worse, it uses LTE while I am at home with a rock solid Wi-Fi connection. If I turn cellular off altogether I can still see, for example, a YouTube video. But if I leave it on, while still connected with wifi, it sucks data like a vampire. WTF??? And, all day, it leaks data even with no apps running!"

The bug has been a common one for Verizon subscribers using the iPhone 5, causing most of them to go through insane amounts of data in a really short period of time.

Fortunately, there is a way to slay this monter, but it's not with a wooden stake. Instead, Apple has offered a patch available directly on the iPhone 5 that should fix the issue quickly and without too much hassle.

To install it, go to Settings > General > About, and wait for the following message and follow the instructions.

Apple swiftly offered an update for Verizon subscribers on the iPhone 5

"Basically, turn your phone off and on again," says Gizmodo. "After doing that, you should check to make sure the carrier software has been changed to Verizon 13.1."

Aside from the fact that your iPhone should stop sucking data like Dracula at the blood bank, there's also another piece of good news. Verizon issued a statement clarifying that they're aware of the bug and won't be charging subscribers for the overages it has caused:

"Under certain circumstances, iPhone 5 may use Verizon cellular data while the phone is connected to a Wi-Fi network. Apple has a fix that is being delivered to Verizon customers right on their iPhone 5. Verizon Wireless customers will not be charged for any unwarranted cellular data usage."

If you're a smartphone owner, you're already familiar with the ritual if charging up your device one or more times a day. And the question of how much power you're actually sucking when you do so has probably crossed your mind. It's got to be quite a bit, right?

The report found that the power used to charge a smartphone throughout an entire year is negligible. According to Opower, it takes just 3.5 kilowatt hours per year (an annual energy cost of about $0.41) to charge up an iPhone 5 from 0% to full, year-round. That's pretty cheap.

The rates were pretty close for the Samsung Galaxy S III, which costs roughly $0.53 a year to charge. Opower says the slight discrepancy is probably due to the fact that the Galaxy's battery is larger.

But, though the impact of charging an individual smartphone is pretty small, Opower reminds us that, collectively, they do eat up a lot of power:

"This year alone, Apple expects to sell 170 million iPhone 5s. Those 170 million smartphones will draw enough electricity to power all of the homes in Cedar Rapids, Iowa for a year."

Still, Opower predicts that smartphones may help reduce energy consumption over all, since they're now being used in many cases as substitutes for bulkier, more power-hungry devices, like desktop computers and TVs.

For instance, says Opower, "An iPhone 5 requires 20 times less energy to operate than a typical laptop – and 100 times less energy than a typical 42-inch plasma TV."

“Put simply, says Opower analyst Barry Fischer, "a day spent web-surfing and Facebooking on a smartphone or tablet is a much more energy-efficient day than doing the same on a computer [...] the rise of smartphones, like the iPhone 5, is likely to save energy in American homes as it diverts our time from using far less efficient consumer electronic devices.”

This graphic from Mashable compares the energy used for other consumer electronics relative to the iPhone 5

Pocket-Lint obtained exclusive pictures of the HTC One X's next incarnation

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Or at least, that seems to be what HTC was thinking when designing their latest version of the HTC One X.

The new device, called the HTC One X+, isn't official yet. But pictures obtained exclusively by Pocket-Lint at least confirm its existence.

As you may have guessed from our opening statement, the new shots of the HTC One X+ look extremely familiar, and the new device is likely to be more of a tweak or an update than a total reinvention.

The Pocket-Lint pictures reveal mostly superficial changes to the exterior design. Pocket-Lint called the new phone “virtually identical” to its predecessor, with the exception of its black color accented by red details, and the new “b” logo for Beats Audio. Screen size, shape, and everything else appear to be the same.

That said, a lot more than just pictures of the HTC One X+ have emerged. As MobileSyrup notes, aside from the iPhone 5, it has been “perhaps the most-leaked phone of the last six months.”

And if you put together the rumors and conjecture from all the different sources, you begin to get a pretty good idea of what the next generation HTC phone is going to be.

It's expected to run on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, feature a 1.7GHz quad-core processor, and have 1GB of RAM, with 64GB of internal storage.

Again, it's not a huge overhaul. And some, like TechCrunch, are asking whether “pushing out mildly-updated versions of existing hardware could put HTC back on its original, lousy track.”

Still, it may just be that HTC have hit upon something good with the One family and have decided to hedge their betson the HTC One X+.

But I guess we're all just going to have to wait a little longer to find out if the odds are in their favor.

The terms "Scratchgate" and "Scuffgate" have surfaced as early adopters of the iPhone 5 complain of unsightly marks on the aluminum back

Okay, so it's not exactly a national scandal on the scale of Watergate, but there's a kerfuffle all across the web over the reputed inadequacy of the new iPhone 5's aluminum back.

The fact that the aluminum is prone to scratching has users and tech sites shouting Scratchgate and Scuffgate, and even led to cries of "oh, the humanity!" Proud new owners of the iPhone 5 have already been complaining of unsightly scratches and scuffs on the black-coated aluminum of their new prized possession.

And, as 9to5 Mac reported, one such user actually garnered a response from Apple's Senior VP of Marketing, Phil Schiller, who told him: “Any aluminum product may scratch or chip with use, exposing its natural silver color. That is normal.”

Fair enough. The aluminum backing of the iPhone 5 may be prone to wear, but it is actually less fragile than the glass backing of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. And even in a Gizmodo video where one user is determined to “scratch the hell” out of the new device within store, the iPhone 5 holds up pretty well, though it's never rubbed against sharp metal objects like keys or rings.

Still, all of this brings us to an important, if awkward, discussion:

It's fun to have the latest smartphone. You love Apple ever so much, and you and your new iPhone are planning to make a life together – at least until the next model comes out, that is.

But the fact is, just because you trust your smartphone, there's no reason not to use protection. It's for your iPhone's good as much as your own. So glove the love.

One need only look to the recent iPhone 5 hysteria, the raging legal battle between Apple and Samsung, or the righteous tone adopted in ads for most of the latest smartphones to know that some people take cell phones pretty seriously.

Thankfully, however, there are still a few good laughs to be had when it comes to mobile devices, and Pure Mobile is counting down our list of the best and funniest cell phone ads throughout the years. They're a good antidote to some of today's more buttoned-up advertising, which deals in hard facts, or promises some great technical advancement for mankind.

As much as we like heavy hitters like Samsung, Nokia, Apple and BlackBerry, we'd rather watch a middle-aged French woman breakdance, or the little green Android mascot burp than hear about specs any day.

Korean Android ad

We're not really sure what's going on in this Korean ad for Android, but the OS' little green spokes-alien sure sounds like he enjoyed his sandwich.

AT&T's Family Rollover Minutes

A mom guilt-trip at its finest. But the funniest part of this commercial isn't even seeing mom's typical “no waste” lecture framed in the context of cell phones, it's dad's resigned and exhausted little sigh. Watch for it.

Motorola's Stripping Wife

This older Motorola ad works the obvious appeal of an attractive woman removing clothing piece by piece – imagine the effect on a larger Galaxy or iPhone screen – but there's also a refreshing little punchline at the end.

Postbank's Rich Husband

This one isn't actually actually an ad for a cell phone, but we couldn't resist including it in this list, if only for the way it leads you astray right until the end. The ad's rich also handles things like a complete boss.

Vodafone's Mom Ringtones

This Vodafone ad from France has a mom acting sexy, looking like a zombie, and breakdancing, all at the switch of a ringtone. Classic.

T-Mobile's “Who's in your 5?” ads

These two ads from T-Mobile are so hilariously awkward that they definitely make our “Fave 5” cell phone commercials. One has two buds at odds over a secret crush (note the sly “foot massage” reference to Marcellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction.)

The other shows a teen boy hopelessly intimidated by his girlfriend's dad. Pops is a little scary, but somehow, you feel for him.

But that last ruling is unlikely to put an end to the drama between the two smartphone makers, even if it means taking the fight out of the courtroom and into the streets. In fact, Samsung has done just that.

Just days after Apple's iPhone 5 unveiling, Samsung's latest ad for the Galaxy S3 takes direct aim at the newest iPhone incarnation.

The ad, which compares the two smartphones' capabilities, and calls out the iPhone 5 by name, bears the statement: “It doesn't take a genius.” Presumably, the “it” in question is figuring out the Galaxy S3 is "better."

The timeliness of the ad, which must have been prepared based on specs obtained before Apple's September 12 unveiling, led 9to5Mac to quip: “you can say a lot of things about Samsung, but one thing you can’t say is that they are slow.”

Indeed, Samsung pumped that one out pretty quickly. But that's no surprise considering this isn't the first anti-Apple ad the company's run. Back when they were promoting the Galaxy S2, they slammed the iPhone with an ad making fun of Apple fanatics, claiming “the next big thing is already here.”

This time, however, Samsung's Apple-bashing is more delicately directed at the company, not its users, and that may just work. At the very least, the ad should make people feel smart for choosing a Galaxy, rather than stupid for standing in line at the Apple Store.

What do you think of Samsung's new ad? Is it tasteful? Accurate? Do you think it'll work? Leave your opinion in the comments section.